Always there
by Obsessive Reader22
Summary: Ranger will always be there..but this time he's just a little late. Just a short. VERY CC unfriendly. Rated for a reason people. Please reveiw.


**All the normal stuff applies, as always. It's not mine, I just like to play with them.**

"Babe." Ranger's voice was thick with amusement. "You're killing me."

"What?" I sighed exasperated. My eyes walked up his body, stopping at his killer smile. I was definitely amusing him. "I'm telling you this isn't going to work."

"Babe, trust me. It will work." He reached down and lifted me to my feet. I had been sprawled on the floor in my thinking position for the past twenty minutes, and obviously thinking aloud. Once I was back on my feet, I smoothed out my Spongebob Squarepants pajama pants and tank top before staring into his chest. His eyes were just too intimidating at this moment.

"Let's just go over this one more time." I crossed my arms over my chest as Ranger sighed. "You want me to slut myself up, and parade myself around the annual alumni reunion so that you can pick up one of my classmates who just happened to be FTA?"

"Babe." Great. One word answers. Same as saying 'Affirmative'. He's like a god-damned robot.

"Then you want me to distract him enough to get him off of school property, because your company has been banned from the premises because of Santos' obsession with fresh 18 year old girls?"

Another sigh from the Man of Mystery.

"On top of all of this, you expect that my ex-boyfriend, who I just so happened to have a total Hate-Hate relationship, to follow through these wonderful plans of yours without a hitch?"

"Pretty much summed it up, Babe." Ranger cupped my face in his hands, forcing me to look into his eyes. "This is nothing you haven't done before. It will be easy."

"I am gonna have NO backup, Ranger!" I cried, unwinding my arms from across my chest and flailing them dramatically at my sides. "You don't know Kevin. He's an arrogant bastard. I wouldn't trust him as far as…as far as I could throw Tank!"

This one got a chuckle. "You aren't going to be completely alone." He kissed my forehead. "I told you that I can have my cousin go with you. No one on Rangeman payroll can go, but he would do this for me."

"I don't know your cousin, though." I was whining. Totally unattractive. No wonder I'm single. Yes, that's right. Joe and I cut it off for good. Seriously, this time it's over. I caught him fucking Terry Gilman on his sofa last week, but he doesn't seem to think that it was a problem. Poor thick headed Joe just doesn't get it. "What if he sees one of my hot classmates and decides to head off with them?"

"Not gonna happen, Babe."

"AARG!" I groan, stepping away from him and stalking into my kitchen, grabbing a beer out of the fridge. As I turned around, I was met with a solid wall of muscle, otherwise known as Ranger's chest. I yelped and dropped my beer sending shards of glass all over the kitchen floor.

"Don't move." Ranger said, leaning down and picking up the large pieces of glass and tossing them into the garbage can. "Here." He picked me up and deposited me on the counter as he walked towards the cubby where I kept my broom and dustpan.

I watched as he carefully swept up every shard of glass, and mopped up every drop of beer off the floor, and cabinets.

"How do you know where everything is in my apartment?" I asked as he put the broom and dustpan away.

"Babe. There isn't much I don't know about you."

"Oh really, Mr. Smarty pants. What color is my underwear?" My voice was smug but playful.

"White satin with pink lacing in the back." He said a little too quickly for comfort. My mouth dropped open and I instinctually pulled the waist band of my pajama pants to find that he was right.

"How did…"

"Babe…I'm Batman. I have my ways." He smirked as he swooped me up off the counter and carried me into the living room. He sat on the sofa, curling me into his lap. "Tell me really why this distraction is bothering you?"

"Ranger, I just don't think that it will work. I don't want you to waste time, money and man power on something that I am pretty sure that I will fail at."

"Babe. I don't lie to you. Please give me the same consideration." Oooh. Irritated Ranger has made an appearance. "Is there something about this guy that we should know about?"

"No." I said a little too fast. Shit. I thought. I don't want to get into this with him. He quirked an eyebrow and without saying a word I could hear 'explain'. "Ranger, I'll do it. I just don't want you to be disappointed when he doesn't go along with it."

"Thanks, Babe." He kissed me gently on the lips. "I know that you can do this. You have never given me reason to be disappointed, and you never will."

"You just haven't been paying attention enough." I muttered to myself.

"Babe. It's my job to 'pay attention'. I can tell you now that there hasn't been anything that has ever made me less than proud of you." When he spoke his eyes softened, turning a milky chocolate. I smiled and wrapped my arms around his shoulders; hugging him.

"Thanks, Batman."

"Anytime, Wonder Woman." He squeezed me tightly, not enough to hurt, but enough to feel the safety and security that he had always offered me. "I gotta head out. Bad guys to catch you know. I will be back tomorrow at six to bring you to your reunion. You have my number, and I know you know how to use it." He kissed me again on the lips, sending a jolt of heat through my body, before standing and heading towards the door. "Oh, and Babe. Wear blue tomorrow night. I always love you in blue." With that he walked out my front door. I heard the locks tumble into place as I headed into my bedroom and into bed.

The next morning came a little too early, which seemed to put the rest of my day into a tailspin. My skips seemed to want to fight me (literally) tooth and nail, while Joe seemed to harass me at every step of the way. Phone calls, stopping by the office, at the station and even following me to the bakery. At two o'clock I headed back to my apartment to start to get ready for the night ahead of me. I showered; exfoliating, shaving, scrubbing and moisturizing myself silly. My hair was tamed, falling in soft curls around my face and my make-up was sultry.

I was standing in a towel in front of my closet looking for the perfect distraction outfit when the locks on my door clicked and the door opened. I glanced at the clock and saw that it read six forty five. Ranger must be early.

"What kind of blue? Slutty or sexy?" I called.

"I always like slutty, but frankly you can do that without anything." Joe's voice boomed from my bedroom doorway.

"Jesus Christ!" I cried out. I whipped around, my towel slipping and falling to the floor. Before I could reach down to gather up my towel and shoo him out, he lunged at me pinning me naked underneath him on my bed.

"God, Cupcake. You sure do know how to welcome a man into your home." He begin kissing me sloppily on my neck. I could smell the stench of bar on him; smoke and beer.

"Morelli! GET. !" I screamed, pushing at his chest. He laughed and propped himself up on his arm and looked me in the eyes.

"Awww, what's the matter? Are you PMSing?" His tone was like he was scolding a child. "I can fix that." He went back to mauling my naked body, my resistance to him deemed as foreplay.

"Damnit, Joe! Get off of me!" I screamed, grabbing a fistful of his hair and pulling until he was facing me. "I want you to get out of my apartment!"

"You don't mean that, Cupcake." He growled, grasping my breast in his hand as the other held my hands over my head. "I can tell how excited you are." He motioned down to the state of my nipples.

"Fuck Joe! Did you sleep through sex ed. I just got out of the shower. I'm cold! The state of my nipples has nothing to do with the fact that you are molesting me ON MY OWN BED!" I screamed, wiggling a leg free in an attempt to hit him in the ass with my heel. "If you don't move, so help me GOD, I will shoot you!" I got in a few good thwacks with my heel before he grabbed it and hooked my knee under his elbow. He pulled forcing my legs apart as he nestled in between them.

"Kinky." Joe responded. My blood was boiling, and there was a ringing in my ears. "Wanna have it rough. Role-playing? Wanna play cops and robbers? I already have the badge." Releasing my knee from his grasp he reached down and began to undo his belt.

"Shit." Fear was starting to set in. "Joe. I'm serious. I don't want you here. I don't want this. Get the fuck off of me!" I pulled against the grasp he had on my hands, but it was no use. He was a lot stronger than me.

"Cupcake..the boys miss you." I could feel his 'boys' at my entrance. My brain kicked into panic mode and I began thrashing with everything I had. I screamed out as he began to enter me.

"Please Joe! STOP!" He thrust into me hard, sending pain shooting through my entire body. He chuckled as I sobbed, still wriggling at get away. I cried out with each of his thrusts, each one sending agonizing pain through every inch of my body. After what seemed like an eternity he withdrew almost completely before slamming into me, causing my vision to darken from the intense pain.

I cried out as he lowered his mouth on mine, his tongue probing my lips for access. Unwillingly, I opened my mouth to him. When his tongue slipped past my lips he thrust hard into me again and I yelped in pain. Gathering my wits I bit down on his tongue, tasting blood. "FUCKING CHRIST, STEPH!" He pushed himself up slightly, hand cocked back to smack me. I closed my eyes, and waited for the slap, but nothing came. I opened my eyes and looked at where Joe had been.

"Stupid fucker!" My heart stopped for a millisecond. Ranger. "I should kill you right here. Don't EVER put your hands on her again!"

I sat up, pulling myself into a ball to try to cover myself. Ranger was standing over Joe pounding his fists in his face.

"Ranger!" I cried out, my voice shaky. He stopped instantly and whipped his head around to face me. His eyes were feral, and black as coal. His face was hard, but began to soften when he noticed the tears in my eyes.

"Babe." He whispered. He looked down at Joe who was barely conscious on the floor before striding up to me and wrapping his arms around me. After a deep breath he pulled back and began running his hands over my body. "Babe. Did he hurt you?"

"No." I said, choking back the tears. "I'm fine. Just shook up…" I looked down at my naked body, tightening my arms around me. "..and very naked." I attempted a weak smile.

"Babe." He wrapped the comforter at the end of my bed around me and pulled me into his arms. Standing he made his way to the living room and set me gently down on the sofa. He slowly stroked my hair as he pulled out his phone.

"Santos, get up here ASAP. Bring Brown." He flipped his phone shut and crouched down in front of me.

"I can't have them see me like this. I will never live it down." I groaned, trying to stand up. Ranger pulled me back onto the sofa. "Let me finished getting dressed and we can go.

"My men love you they'd never..." He ran his hand over his face as his words seemed to get lost. "And the distraction is cancelled, Babe."

"I can do it." I said adamantly.

"I know you can." He said, "But I can't. Not right now."

"What?"

He opened his mouth to answer me, when my door flew open and Santos and Bobby flew into the room, guns drawn. Noticing me in my state of undress they looked from me to Ranger and back to me.

"What happened?" Bobby said, crouching down next to Ranger and looking at me. "Are you hurt?"

"Santos. Get that prick out of the bedroom and into the SUV. He's going to the station. Bobby, check her over and make sure he didn't cause any injuries." Ranger stood and pulled out his phone again. "I need to make a few calls."

I watched dazed as he walked into my kitchen. I could hear him talking, but couldn't understand what he was saying.

"Bomber." Bobby said softly. I turned to face him. "Can you tell me what happened?"

I stared at him for a minute without speaking. I don't know what the hell had happened…so I'm pretty sure that I couldn't tell him.

"No." I said, my lips tightening. "I'm fine."

"Ranger!" Les called from my bedroom. I watched as Ranger walked from the kitchen to across the hallway to my bedroom. I heard a low growl, and a flurry of thunks.

"Stephanie." Bobby spoke a little louder, and it threw me back to our conversation. "You have blood on your lip and naked wrapped in blanket on your sofa. Let's try this again, shall we?"

I reached for my lip, wiping at the blood and staring at it. "It's Joe's. I bit him." I said numbly, my eyes never leaving my blood stained fingers. I jumped as Bobby reached for my hand.

"Sorry, Steph." He said softly. "Can I look you over? Please?"

I nodded as he took my wrists. I noticed the red marks where he had held my hands, and winced as Bobby touched them softly with the pads of his fingers. He tilted my chin up that I was looking at him. Just as he was about to say something we heard a really loud crash.

"Bobby! Get the fuck in here! Call Tank!" Santos screamed, but sounded winded. We both launched to our feet, Bobby with his cell in his hand.

"Bombers 911." Was all that Bobby said before pocketing his phone. He reached the bedroom before I did and tried to shield me from what was going on inside. Ranger had a bloody and sobbing Morelli by the collar of his shirt. Ranger's gun was pressed against Joe's temple and he was shaking with fury. Santos was standing a few feet away, panting as if he had just ran a mile.

"Ranger, man. Don't do this." Bobby said calmly. "Les what happened." Les pointed to the bed and I felt Bobby stiffen. There was blood on the bed where my hips had been. You could still see the imprint that our bodies had made in the bedding. I pressed against his shoulder to get in the room, but he held his ground, turning his face to me. "Steph, this is really bad. Please I want you to go to the entry way and wait."

"No!" I cried out. Pushing harder this time.

Ranger was muttering quietly, his eyes no longer showing any life. His face tight with the rage that quaked his entire body.

"Carlos." Santos said softly his voice still slightly winded. He had put his hands up in the air to show he wasn't there to harm anyone. "Don't do this. Steph will be okay. Don't let her see this, man."

Tank barreled into the front door and stopped for a second to take in the scene. I was still wrapped in my comforter, Bobby was standing blocking the bedroom door and Les was standing a few feet in my room with his hands raised.

"Tank!" I cried, throwing myself at him. He wrapped his arms protectively around me and pushed Bobby to the side. "Please, help him." I watched him take in the scene in the bedroom, and knew the moment he noticed the bloody bed. He had stiffened, his whole body tensing, but quickly relaxed and pulled me to him and kissed the top of my head. He stared at me for a moment before he nodded before carefully stepping into the room with me tucked into his chest.

"Carlos." Tank's voice was firm but not gruff. Ranger gave no response, just continued to mutter softly to himself pressing the gun harder into Morelli's head. "Manoso! Steph doesn't need to see this, put the fucking gun down!" Tank was barking at Ranger like a Drill SGT

Nothing. Ranger pulled back and primed the weapon. I pulled myself from Tank and ran to him.

"Carlos, please. Stop." I begged, reaching for the hand that held the gun. "Please, don't do this. He's not worth it." The moment my hand touched his eyes flashed up at me. He looked startled, and unsure of what was going on.

"Babe?" He said softly, putting the gun back to safe but not lowering it.

"Carlos, please." Tears were steadily falling from my cheeks. "I need you, Carlos."

He shook his head in such a miniscule fashion that most wouldn't have noticed it. He looked from me to the gun and back to me.

"I'm sorry, Babe." He lowered the gun and dropped Morelli to the floor. He wrapped his arms around me, pulling me tightly to his chest. "Steph, I'm sorry."

Santos and Tank hoisted Morelli to his feet and began dragging him out of my room.

"Ram and Cal are going to take him to the cop shop to get him processed, boss." Tank said, stepping back into the bedroom with us. I could tell that he wasn't completely trusting that Ranger was in control yet. Ranger nodded but kept his face nestled into my curls. "Boss?"

"I'm fine, Tank." He said softly, pulling his face up to mine. "Babe. He hurt you."

I nodded, suppressing the sob that was aching in my chest. "He raped you." I was a statement, not a question. I looked into his eyes, my mind racing with doubt.

"I..I..don't know." I said, feeling dumb for even saying it.

"Did he force himself on you?" He wiped my cheeks of the tears that were falling endlessly. I nodded numbly again. Was this really rape? My mind was reeling. Joe had been my friend, my lover, for years. I trust…trusted him with my life. Maybe I didn't make myself clear? I told him to get out and to stop. Maybe he thought it was foreplay? Maybe I was sending mixed signals and he didn't really mean to hurt me? Maybe I just took it the wrong way? Maybe..

"Stephanie!" Ranger growled. "He raped you. You told him to stop. He is in the wrong here, not you."

"But.." I began.

"No!" Ranger interrupted me, his voice loud enough to echo throughout the room. I jumped. "No matter what the Burg says. Good sex doesn't end with someone bleeding or crying. You are both. This wasn't consensual. I saw him. Please." His voice had softened to almost a whisper.

I didn't move, and didn't blink; just stared at Ranger. I was raped. He raped me, and if Ranger hadn't walk in…OH God, if Ranger hadn't walked in.

"I don't want to think about that either." He said, pulling me back into his embrace. "My whole life just flashed through my eyes when I saw you lying there."

"Carlos, let's get her to the hospital. They are going to want photos and do a kit." Tank's voice was soft. He reached down and grabbed some clothes from the clean laundry basket I had yet to put away and stuffed them into a duffel on the chair. "Come on little girl. Let's get you checked out."

Ranger picked me up in his arms and carried me out of my apartment and down to the Escalade. Tank opened the back door and walked around to the driver's side. Without putting me down, he scooted onto the seat and shut the door. As Tank drove I took a deep breath and looked up at Ranger's face. There were unshed tears in the corner of his eyes, and his blank mask was gone. Pain and anger mixed with fear and uncertainty shown on his face with such an intensity that it made me want to weep.

"Ranger." I said softly. He looked down at me.

"Yes, Babe."

"Thank you." I hiccupped slightly through tears. "For being there, and saving me."

"I will always be there." He leaned down and kissed me softly on the lips before pressing his forehead to mine. "Always and forever, Babe."


End file.
